


A Lovely Picnic

by Cornerverse



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 15:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10193018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerverse/pseuds/Cornerverse
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir have a talk on a rooftop about their love life. Two days later, Adrien and Marinette go on a picnic.





	

                Patrols were a strange thing. They’d started as training exercises, allowing Ladybug and Chat Noir to get used to their powers, and each other, without the danger of fighting an Akuma. Then it turned into making sure the city was safe, both from potential Akumas and occasional petty crime. They’d fought a good handful of late-night muggings.

                Most nights though, Ladybug and Chat Noir ended up just talking. As long as they didn’t use anyone’s real names, they could talk about anything. They’d help one another with personal lives, personal problems, playing an impartial vote. So it didn’t come as a surprise when Chat started up a conversation.

                “Can I talk to you about something?” he asked as they stopped on a rooftop.

                “Always,” she answered, sitting down with him.

                “I really should be asking someone else about this,” he said. “But you’re the only person I can talk to about it.”

                “What’s this about?” she asked.

                “I love you,” he said. “I know I say it a lot, and I can get fairly flirty, but I do. Since the day we met. But that’s not the ‘problem’ part of the problem. The problem is that I’ve fallen in love with another girl as well.”

                “I don’t know if I’m the person you want to discus that with,” she said, blush creeping onto her face.

                “If I could I would,” he said. “If I told my other friends that I’m in love with Ladybug, they’d probably brush it off as a hero crush or something. Because ‘Chat Noir’ is the only person who ‘really knows’ Ladybug, but you’re the only person who knows I’m Chat Noir. Well, my Kwami knows, but he’s not the most helpful.”

                “Oh,” she said. “It’s still a difficult problem.”

                “I know,” he said, flopping back onto the roof. “I love of you, but I love her. You’re both incredible. And I’ve been stuck in what to do about it. And if I do chose one of you, then even if I get rejected I can’t really ask the other out, because then that one’d be ‘second choice’, and I don’t want either of you to feel like that. It probably sounds ridiculous to you, but I can’t just choose one of you over the other.”

                “No, I get it,” she sighed, flopping back next to him. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling similar. There’s a guy in my life, and he’s wonderful. I’ve loved him for a while, and lately we’ve been getting along a lot better. But then there’s us.”

                “Wait, what?” he asked, sitting up.

                “If I hadn’t fallen for him,” she admitted, “I wouldn’t push you away as much. I-it’s strange to admit but I do like you.”

                “I feel a ‘but’ in there,” he said, shoulders drooping.

                “But I love the other guy too,” she said. “Even knowing that I do like you, are you really willing to let go of what you feel for this other girl?”

                He thought on that for a moment. On one hand, Ladybug just said that she returned his feelings. He wanted to leap for joy and scream it across Paris. But then he thought about Marinette. He dropped back down, lying next to her.

                “I can’t,” he said. “At least not without seeing how she feels about me.”

                “If she rejects you or not,” she said. “I promise, that if you chose her over me and she rejects you, I won’t be upset about being ‘second choice’.”

                “Really?” he asked.

                “I know you’re honest,” she said. “And I know you’re conflicted about this. Maybe talking to me was the right choice. Because I can say ‘go for her’.”

                “You should go after the guy you like,” he said. “I promise I won’t be upset about second choice either. And if my girl rejects me while your guy doesn’t, I promise I won’t be jealous and dangle him from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Unless he cheats on you.”

                “Thanks, Chat,” she chuckled. “And I promise not to threaten your girl either.”

                “Speaking of cheating,” he began, “Wow what a segue. But the point is, if I do end up with this girl, or if you end up with this guy, what happens when I can’t explain why I disappear to be Chat Noir? She’ll probably think I’m cheating on her.”

                “I-I guess that’s a problem,” she sighed. “If-if you want, if you trust her enough, you can tell her.”

                “Really?” he asked. “But what about-“

                “I know,” she said. “The whole point of the secret identities is to protect our friends and family. But if the secret’s what’s hurting them, well, it shouldn’t.”

                “Yeah,” he said. “What if we ended up together though?”

                “I think at that point we’d have to,” she said. “I mean, how would dating as superheroes work? Just going to the movies as Ladybug and Chat Noir. Sharing an apartment, trying to get along with neighbors. Stars, a wedding would be impossible!”

                “Thinking about a wedding already?” he teased.

                “Okay, but imagine it!” she laughed. “We couldn’t have an actual ceremony because our friends and family wouldn’t know our identities. If I got married without my best friend, she’d kill me. Then my parents would bring me back and kill me again! Could we even get legally married as superheroes?”

                “Wondering if the legal system recognizes our hero names is a good question,” he chuckled.

                “And then imagine kids!” she exclaimed. Her face turned red as she thought of something. “Not the ‘making kids’ part.”

                “Could we even do that in the suits?” he asked, feeling his own face reddening as well.

                “Not going to try,” she said. “But I meant raising a kid. First off, how would we hide that in civilian life? The kid wouldn’t be able to meet their grandparents. But imagine us going to five-year-olds’ plays. Or PTA meetings?”

                “Ladybug the PTA mom,” he laughed. “Fighting evil and telling Helen her lemon bars suck!”

                They both lost it, descending into a fit of giggles. It was a minute before either could speak again. It took another before one of them though to speak again.

                “Even if you tell him,” Chat said, “you don’t have to tell me.”

                “I want to,” Ladybug said. “I really do. I mean, I trust you with my life. I should trust you with who I am. I just don’t know if the real me can measure up to ‘Ladybug the Hero’.”

                “Bugaboo, you’re wonderful,” he said. “Take it from the one person who knows ‘Ladybug’ best. You’re not great because you’re Ladybug, Ladybug is great because you are her. The Miraculous could have been given to anyone, but they wouldn’t be you. I didn’t fall in love with the hero, I fell in love with the girl who chose to be a hero.”

                “Thanks,” she smiled. “I’m sure the real you will be just as great as Chat Noir.”

                “Obviously I’ll measure up in the looks department,” he said, striking a pose. “Still, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. As much as I’d love to know, I can live without it.”

                “Maybe one day,” she said. “You really should ask out your girl though.”

                “As long as you ask out your guy,” he agreed.

                “Deal,” she said.

* * *

* * *

 

                Another morning at school. Everything was business as usual. Except Marinette, who was known for running in at the last second before the bell, was early.  She stared at the door, practically ignoring everyone. Even Alya got just a basic hello.

                She finally perked up when Adrien walked into the classroom. He looked surprised to see her here early. Still, he smiled and walked toward her. She jumped up and met him half-way.

                “Hi! I was wondering-“ they both started.

                “Wait, you go first!“ they said at the same time again.

                “No you!” And again

                “I insist!”

                “Seriously it’s okay!”

                “Would you like to go out on a date this Saturday?”

                They both stopped and stared at one another, processing what the other just asked. Both turned a color that could only be described as ‘Ladybug Red’, before laughing.

                “I guess that answers my question,” Adrien said, trying to control his laughter.

                “I was thinking picnic?” she offered, not doing any better at stopping.

                “Did that seriously just happen?” Alya shouted.

                The two of them looked back, remembering that they were in a nearly full classroom. Most of them, especially Alya, were staring at them and grinning.

                “Finaly!” Alix shouted. “You two have been driving us nuts!”

                Various similar shouts of congratulations and relieved frustration followed. Most people cheered in some way. Nathaniel looked sad, but still smiled and wished them the best. Lila seethed with rage from the back, but thankfully stayed quiet.

                Then Chloé slid up next to Adrien. There was a tense silence falling over them. While Lila was quiet, Chloé had a reputation for being loud. Marinette took a breath, and braced herself for whatever may happen, be it verbal or physical.

                “You break his heart, I break your soul,” Chloé threatened.

                Before Marinette could register what she’d said, Chloé hugged Adrien before calmly walking to her desk. The two of them looked back and forth between her and one another.

                “So, a picnic?” Adrien asked.

* * *

 

                It was a beautiful Saturday. No classes or modeling schedules. Not even any Akumas! Usually Adrien wouldn’t jinx that, but an Akuma had already appeared early this morning. It was doubtfull that there’d be another so soon.

                So Adrien enjoyed the fact that nothing could go wrong on this date. Well, at least nothing out of his control. One of them could always accidently dump a sandwich on the other.

                He smiled when he spotted Marinette, looking like she hadn’t stopped smiling yet either. She was carrying an enormous picnic basket, along with a blanket in the classic red and white pattern used for picnics. It was almost picture perfect.

                “You need some help with that?” he asked when she was close.

                “Er, yeah thanks,” she said.

                She handed him the basket, which he nearly dropped. It was heavier than expected.

                “What all’s in here?” he asked as she spread out the blanket.

                “Well,” she blushed and looked away, “At first it was just a few sandwiches. Then I remembered I forgot to ask if you had any food allergies, since I didn’t know about the feathers. Not that I’d put feathers on a sandwich in the first place, I just meant I didn’t know you were allergic to them until the hat contest. So I started packing backup food just in case you were allergic or didn’t like something. And I’m pretty sure my parents kept sneaking things into the basket when I wasn’t looking. So there’s probably enough to feed our entire class.”

                “At least we won’t run out,” he said.

                He put the basket down and sat beside her on the blanket. They were both a bit awkward, but after a few minutes they lapsed into a comfortable conversation. It was so easy to talk to one another, once they actually started talking. They tried to make one another laugh, just to say how cute the other’s smile was.

                “Er, would you like something to eat?” Marinette asked, reaching into the basket. “After all, it is a picnic.”

                “That’s be great!” he said “What’d you bring?”

                “Mostly sandwiches,” she said. “Plus a few breads, cheeses, various things to put on breads, probably a handful of cookies and pastries, plus whatever my parents stuck in there.”

                “As long as there’s no feather sandwiches!” he chuckled.

                “I don’t think so,” she snorted with laughter.

                She began rummaging through the basket, pulling out various items. Eventually, she frowned as she kept pulling out more items.

                “What’s wrong?” Adrien asked.

                “I can’t find any cheese,” she said. “I’ve found empty plates that should have cheese, but no cheese. And it looks like the cheese has disappeared from the sandwiches too. Which is weird because they haven’t been unwrapped yet.”

                “Oh no,” he whispered.

                Adrien tried to subtly check his shirt pocket. Yep. Plagg was missing.

                “Let me help look!” he offered.

                She gave him a questioning look and he realized how dumb that sounded. Still, it was better he look like he’s overzealous to help than have her find Plagg.

                He opened the other half of the basket to see more of the same. Empty cheese plates and sandwiches missing ingredients. It looked like the only cheese left was stuff that had been baked in to other things.

                Moving a plate, he saw exactly what he was looking for. Giving Plagg a look that said ‘you are in so much trouble!’, he tried to grab him before Marinette saw. Unfortunately, there’ s no subtle way to snatch a small creature out o a picnic basket.

                “What is that?” Marinette asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

                “Er, this is, uh,” Adrien tried to think of something. “My-my pet hamster! He likes to nap in my shirt pocket, and I must have forgotten him when I left home! And then climbed out when he smelled the cheese in your basket!”

                “Okay no,” Plagg said.

                Adrien tried to keep him quiet, but Plagg used his powers to phase through Adrien’s hands. He shuddered at the feeling. As if talking and phasing through things wasn’t enough, Plagg began floating between them.

                “First of all,” Plagg began,” A hamster? Seriously? Rude. Secondly, this is all on you. I would’ve eaten all the cheese and been out of her sight if you hadn’t interfered. Thirdly, she already knows exactly what I am, so do some actual damage control before she screams or faints.”

                “How would she know what you are?” Adrien asked.

                Plagg just brought a paw up to his face and began grumbling under his breath. Correction, he was swearing under his breath. In Chinese. Adrien suddenly wished he wasn’t able to translate what was just said about all the planets in the universe.

                He looked up at Marinette. Her brain seemed to have crashed. Her eyes were looking back and forth, darting between him, Plagg, and the ring on his hand.

                “Please don’t freak out!” Adrien said. “Okay, you can freak out a little bit. This is Plagg and he’s magic.”

                “I-I got that part,” Marinette muttered, still staring. “I-I just-“

                “Long story short, I’m Chat Noir?” he said, giving half a grin. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag.”

                She started laughing. At first he was afraid he broke her. But at least she wasn’t screaming or fainting or running as fast as she could.

                “I’m sorry,” she said, gasping for breath. “It’s just- oh stars we’re idiots!”

                “What?” he asked.

                “Tikki!” she said, still laughing.

                Before he could ask what she was talking about, a small thing phased out of her purse. It was about the same size as Plagg, but red and black. And it looked a bit annoyed.

                “Plagg!” the red Kwami chastised. “You couldn’t have waited a bit longer?”

                “They’re already together,” Plagg chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Besides, did you see how much cheese was in there?”

                “You did this for cheese?” she sighed.

                “Not just for cheese,” he said. “Also because this is the most ridiculous setup we’ve been in, and I wanted to actually get to see you again.”

                “Don’t be adorable I’m supposed to be mad at you,” she frowned.

                “You can’t stay mad at me for long,” he chuckled. “That’s Wayzz’s job.”

                “Fair enough,” she laughed, pulling him into a hug.

                While that was adorable, Adrien was still reeling. Plagg knew the red thing. It was a Kwami. A Kwami with red and black spots. A Ladybug Kwami. His eyes flicked to Marinette, who had managed to squash the rest of her giggles, then to her earrings, and back to the Kwami.

                “Oh my stars,” he started laughing himself. “We are idiots.”

                “I told you!” Plagg shouted.

                The red Kwami rolled her eyes before dragging Plagg off, giving the two of them room. It only took a glance for them to start laughing again. They flopped back onto the blanket, close together, her arm over his chest. It almost felt like the rooftop again.

                “So when you were talking about the ‘incredible girl’,” Marinette tried to ask.

                “I was talking about you,” he answered. “And when you mentioned a ‘wonderful boy’-“

                “Yes!” she laughed. “At least you were right about ‘measuring up in the looks department’, Monsieur literal model!”

                “You definitely measure up to Ladybug,” he said. “After all, I fell for you twice!”

                “It’s weird,” she said. “But in a good way. Like, I know you, you know?”

                “Yeah,” he said. “Anything I didn’t know about you, I learned from the other you.”

                “It just kind of clicks together,” she said. “It always did, in a way. I never noticed but whenever I actually managed to talk to you, it was like talking to Chat. The back and forth just clicked until I thought about how it was you I was talking to.”

                “At least now I know why I wanted to make cat puns around you,” he said.

                “That might just be your love of puns coming back to haunt you,” she said.

                “Any chance we’ll be able to explain away the sudden closeness?” he asked.

                “Oh stars!” she exclaimed. “Everyone’s going to be so confused. And Alya, poor Alya. She’ll be asking us for weeks.”

                “Of course we’re not going to tell her though,” he said.

                “She’d probably kill us!” she said.

                “She’ll have to bring us back to life to do that,” he said. “Because Chloé’d probably kill us first.”

                “Nino would be cool with it,” she said.

                “The only time I’ve seen Nino be ‘not cool’ with something,” he began, “was when he watched the Ladyblog’s footage of the Bubbler.”

                “Okay, new deal,” she said. “No telling our friends unless it either almost ruins the friendship, or they somehow become superheroes too.”

                “Want to seal it with a kiss, Buginette?” he teased.

                She took him up on the offer, pulling him closer to her. He practically melted. As soon as they parted they were laughing again. They stayed there for a while, just enjoying one another’s presence. If they closed their eyes, it was difficult to tell if they were on the ground in the park or up on a rooftop. It didn’t matter, they kept smiling.


End file.
